Primary Care/Hospitalist
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Tool Identifies Patients in Need of Serious Illness Conversations
Text messages generated by a machine-learning tool resulted in clinicians engaging in more serious illness conversations with high-risk patients.
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Stroke Prevention in Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation: A Review of the Past, Present, and Future
Nonvalvular atrial fibrillation is a highly prevalent cardiac arrhythmia in the United States and often can be complicated by a thromboembolic phenomenon, the most concerning of which is stroke. This article reviews the current evidence for the use of various anticoagulants, surgical techniques, and the left atrial appendage occlusion devices currently available for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.
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Financial Coaching Boosts Follow-Up Visit, Vaccination Rates for Babies
Assisting low-income new parents can lead to better outcomes.
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Medication Therapy Management: Partnering with Clinical Pharmacists to Improve Patient Outcomes
The majority of American adults have at least one chronic disease, often requiring the use of multiple chronic medications. Unfortunately, adherence to chronic medications often is suboptimal, leading to inadequate management of chronic conditions and the risk for morbidity and mortality. This review discusses the foundation of medication therapy management, a service that pharmacists and other healthcare professionals provide to optimize therapeutic outcomes via a patient-centered approach.
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Approach and Treatment of Patients with Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, nomenclature and diagnostic criteria deemphasize “medically unexplained symptoms” and instead focuses on the presence of unexpected, magnified, or disproportionate physical symptoms, with or without an underlying known medical condition. Given that symptoms are physical in nature, patients with somatic disorders are more likely to present to a primary medical provider than to a mental health provider. Thus, developing a better understanding of this often-perplexing condition has clinical relevance for clinicians on the front lines of medical care.
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A Review of Insulin Transition
Diabetes mellitus is a collection of chronic metabolic diseases that occur either as the result of insulin deficiency or insulin resistance. One of the primary goals in diabetes treatment includes lowering blood glucose levels sufficiently to prevent microvascular and macrovascular complications. The type of insulin prescribed depends on multiple factors, and insulins frequently are interchanged. Before choosing or transitioning to an appropriate insulin, consider all social determinants and individualize the treatment regimen as “one size does not fit all.”
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Pediatric Exposures to Toxic Substances in the Home
A high percentage of calls to poison centers each year are for exposures in children younger than the age of 6 years. Many of these calls are prompted by exposures to substances commonly found in the home and can lead to significant morbidity and mortality even when the result of a small, exploratory exposure. An index of suspicion and a knowledge of toxidromes is critical to make an accurate diagnosis in cases of pediatric toxic exposures. Consultation with a medical toxicologist or poison control center is recommended for all suspected toxic ingestions, both for management recommendations and for reporting purposes.
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Healthcare on 2022 Midterm Ballots
Reproductive rights, healthcare business, integrative medicine top of mind for voters in several states.
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Concerns and Complications of Measles and Mumps and the Increasing Threat of Monkeypox
Measles and mumps, while clinically dissimilar, share important characteristics that are valuable to discuss in tandem. This review will seek to inform the practitioner about current outbreak concerns regarding measles and mumps, clinical manifestations and complications of each, diagnostic and treatment options, and prevention of further exposures. The emerging threat of monkeypox also is discussed.
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CDC: U.S. Adult Obesity Rate Up Sharply
At least 35% of adults are obese in 19 states and two territories.